Just Plain Folks - Music Organization

Welcome to Just Plain Notes
Just Plain Notes: Volume 2.016, April 30, 2014
Written by Brian Austin Whitney
Visit the Website: www.jpfolks.com
Mail CD's @ 5327 Kit Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46237
Copyright 2014 Just Plain Folks Productions.
Just Plain Folks Member Population: 50,981
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Would you like to join the JPF Networking Message Boards and Social Media?

It's quick and easy. Just click the link and choose a password and user name and you'll be posting in no time! We'd love to hear from and about you. You can get peer feedback on your music or lyrics, find people to co-write with, get answers to just about any music related question and promote yourself and your gigs on the appropriate boards. It's a very friendly place where over 20,000 of your peers hang out!

"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other."

-Eric Hoffer

"Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again." -Franklin P. Jones

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older." -Mario Andretti

"Life truly is a game of inches with a wiggle here or a waggle there your fortunes can vastly differ." -Brian Austin Whitney

My Take:

(Today, I have included 2 essays, one light (top) and one very heavy and critical (bottom) so please don't miss the critical update on Net Neutrality)

Below is a progression of three little thoughts for this early burst of spring we're enjoying in the Northern Hemisphere.

1. Life truly is a game of inches with a wiggle here or a waggle there your fortunes can vastly differ.

2. That said, no matter how things fall you'll still be the same person nonetheless for better or worse. Instead of worrying about a missed wiggle or an ill timed waggle, focus instead on just being the biggest and best version of you that you can be. No one else can do that. It's your advantage even in a world that often feels like all the roadblocks are against you.

3. Inaction < Action
Action < Action with a plan
Action with a plan < Action with a plan and follow-up
Action with a plan and follow-up < Action with a plan, follow-up and persistence
Action with a plan, follow-up and persistence + a 3x version of yourself* is > Anything else within your control.

*I got the 3x version of yourself bit from Derek Sivers. It seemed to work out well for him right?

Spring has sprung and I look forward to seeing you across the US, Canada and Europe this Summer/Fall when we hit the road! Stay tuned.

Learn, Succeed and Thrive. We're all in this together!
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Table of Contents:

TAXI: The world's leading independent A&R company, has been successfully helping Songwriters, Artists and Composers get their music heard and signed by top Publishers, Major & Indie Labels, and Film & TV music supervisors since 1992. TAXI, is your best bet! See them at www.TAXI.com.

Future Of Music Coalition: The FOMC is our political action partner in all things involving legislative and technological issues important to our community. They are free to join and all the work they do gives you a voice, through us and them to those in power in the USA. Find them at www.futureofmusic.org

CDBaby: The best place to sell your CD's or music files on line. They also have the best on-line hosting service called Hostbaby. Nobody else even comes close. See them at www.CDBaby.com and www.Hostbaby.com for hosting options.

If your company would like to become a Just Plain Folks Community Partner Sponsor please contact Brian directly at jpfolkspro@aol.com or send me a note on Facebook!
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Net Neutrality Alert:

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." -John Adams

"During this long Net Neutrality fight we have won some battles, but it appears the entire world is about to lose the war! -Brian Austin Whitney

From our partners at the FMC:

Late on Wednesday, news broke that despite the petition bearing over a million signatures* presented to the FCC in January, Chairman Tom Wheeler is now circulating draft rules that would allow Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to charge those offering content online a higher fee for priority delivery, establishing a two-tier Internet that could disadvantage smaller operators. That's bad news for artists, indie labels, and other innovators, as Interim Executive Director Casey Rae explains:

"Make no mistake, these proposed rules are not ‘net neutrality.’ This is the moment when the regulatory agency with a mandate to promote competition and diversity did just the opposite. The Internet in America will now be carved into a fast lane for well-heeled corporations and a dirt road for everyone else.

A free market based on competition and entrepreneurship depends on the ability for anyone to bring the next great product, idea or innovation to the marketplace. A society that respects its creators must not place access to culture in the hands of just few massive companies. These proposed rules not only don’t go far enough to safeguard consumers, they actively marginalize smaller and independent voices.

Artists, developers, culture workers, media-makers, nonprofit organizations, community, civic and church groups must tell the FCC that this isn't good enough. We need real rules of the road for ISPs to guarantee that creative expression and entrepreneurship can thrive in the online ecosystem. FMC and our allies look forward to making this case in the upcoming rulemaking after May 15.”

Mark your calendar with that date, because we'll have opportunities for you to take action—both online and offline—to tell the FCC to do the right thing. In the meantime, you can check out media coverage of the FMC's statement in SPIN, The Nation, and Colorlines.

(*including many of you reading this-Brian)
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Editorial From Brian:

Folks, in my opinion this will forever turn the Internet into a vapid wasteland of the haves and have nots. It will be the Internet version of a gated community with soul crushing overlords on one side and all the rest of us on the outside looking in. I don't care what your political bent is, there's no rational reason any of you should support the loss of net neutrality nor any attempt to fool us into thinking we're safe. In my view this will result in censorship by way of overwhelming financial hurdles to cross with the inevitable outcome being a complete loss of free and open EQUAL ACCESS speech. (And frankly, I am holding back on what I really fear here...)

PLEASE read up on this topic. Well beyond just our music, our entire freedom in the Internet/Social Media age as we know it is about to come to an end. That is no exaggeration. I suggest visiting the Future of Music Coalition page, and get on their email list to get updates on this stuff. Visit them at FutureofMusic.org Get involved or blame yourself when it all goes down.

But that's just my opinion, I could be right.
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2014-2015 Just Plain Folks Music Awards

We are now officially accepting entries via CD directly to JPF. Send us any CD's released AFTER 2009. (i.e, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014). We expect to continue accepting entries through much of 2014 directly and will give you plenty of warning before we cut off entries. Much of it depends on our Digital Entry process. If you already have music ready to go, please go ahead and send us a CD copy. We accept ALL genres of music and last time around we had 100 different genres of music from 168 different countries submitted for the awards. The bar is set pretty high, but if you have what it takes, let's hear what you have!

IMPORTANT!
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Inside your package, please include ALL contact info including full name and position (singer, artist, drummer, manager, publisher, attorney, whatever), your full mailing address, your phone number and cell number, and if your CD case does not include a listing of all song titles and songwriters, including whether or not the song is a cover or public domain, you MUST include a listing of this information for your music to be considered in the awards process. In addition, please include your contact info on the physical CD's itself (meaning unwrap it and write it with a sharpie or in some other clearly readable way) because CD's are quickly separated from their cases in our screening process and if your CD has no contact info, band name, album name and song listing, we may not know who you are and would have no way to find you.
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Once you've met those requirements, you may also include band bios or whatever else you want. (Press kits, T-shirts (3X is the size), Hats etc. as we collect them and if they fit, I wear them while attending events, showcases, tours, conferences etc. If we get enough cool shirts and hats this year, we may even have a category for best Promotional Item).

Send the package to Just Plain Folks, 5327 Kit Dr., Indianapolis, IN 46237.

We do NOT return CD's and we cannot offer direct feedback or critiques simply because we receive thousands of CD's a year and during the awards the numbers are much higher. But we do listen to all the CD's we receive in the order we receive them.
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Just Plain Folks Video Spotlight and now accepting Video Submissions from YOU!

We're now accepting video submissions for the 2014 Just Plain Folks Music Awards. Before we could even announce it today we got this email with the following video. Here's what it said in fairly typical promotional release language:
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We're happy to say we just released our new album "Pleasure Island" by The Mast!!

Here's the latest video from the album if you didn't catch it yet. It features a 22-month old baby DJ who tricks his baby cam, escapes from his crib, and throws a party for his pals.

Video: So Righthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsAoQfvV0Fo
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But once I watched the video, I realized it was far from typical. The song is outstanding (good enough to score a nomination in most years on its own), and the video is charming and makes me love this band even more. Check it out above, you'll like it!

So I decided it would work perfectly as a way to launch our 2014 JPF Video Awards entry process. First, you need a good blurb about the video which tells the story behind it (or some other compelling introduction). See their example below:
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The Making of "So Right" by The Mast:

We made the video ourselves. I directed and edited it and Matt filmed it. The 22-month old DJ is our nephew. He always likes to play with our gear, with the keyboard and the iPad. One day I was watching him playing around with it all and thought it would be great to make a video. After I had storyboarded it, I showed a friend and thought, am I nuts to think a 22 month old can, or at least look like he can, escape from his crib, get dressed, call his friends, and throw a party? We realized the only way it would work was if we could turn the filming of each shot into a game so he was entertained. Also we had to keep each shooting session very short. We filmed for probably about 7 minutes a day, literally in 1-3 minute intervals over the course of 5 days, except for the day with all the kids. That was a full-blown party and we filmed for about an hour. It was a lot of fun for the kids and the parents. I'd do something like that again ;-)

It did by the way premiere in Interview Magazine, and was posted in USA Today and Huffington Post, but in very hard to find places! ;-) Enjoy and thank again, Haleh & Matt from The Mast
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Next, include all your contact information, name, address, phone, website, preferred email, Facebook and other social media you're on and anything else you want us to know along with the video name and direct link, preferably on YouTube .

IMPORTANT: In the subject line of the email, please place

"2014 Video Submission (Band/Artist Name and Song Name)"

Example: (in the subject field of the email entry)

"2014 Video Submission" "The Mast: So Right"

(if you don't do this, it will get lost never to be found or included!!!!)

Email this entry to: justplainfolks@aol.com

We'll send out updates on final deadlines for both music and videos (and lyrics which we'll cover in the future)

We will also feature some of our initial favorites on our website and other social media. Yup... free promotion!
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Copyright 2014 Just Plain Folks Productions

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"Art is either plagiarism or revolution" - Paul Gauguin

"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds." -Sir Francis Bacon

"Getting there isn't half the fun - it's all the fun." -Robert Townsend

"We will either find a way, or make one." -Hannibal

"The great American novel has not only already been written, it has already been rejected." -Frank Dane

"Sometimes all you have to do to inspire humans to greatness is give them a reason and an opportunity to do something great." -Brian Austin Whitney